


youthful love

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Ozai mentioned as shitty father, Soft Sokka (Avatar), Soft Zukka, Soft Zuko (Avatar), and they were ROOMMATES, oh my god they were roommates, the gaang are cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:49:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24982609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Zuko and Sokka are in college, and they live together in an apartment on campus. Sokka knows that he's felt something for the other boy for a long time now, that sometimes he wants to kiss him. One night, they get drunk and kiss. Zuko makes a decision he didn't think he'd ever make.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 276





	youthful love

**Author's Note:**

> so if you hate it, i'm sorry hehe this is my first fanfiction ever and i just needed to do this self-indulgent thing for no reason,,, i just have a writer's block and i watched atla for the first time like a week ago and read so much fucking zukka fics and i just-

The heat woke Sokka up. It had been one of those weeks, the weather was a scorching fucking forty degrees (Celsius) and he had forgotten to switch the AC on last night. Sweat clung to his shorts and hair--he’d slept shirtless so he wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night sweating like a pig. Groaning, he dragged himself out of bed, switching the fan on and grabbing an empty mug on his desk on his way out the room.  _ At least I wouldn’t die of a fucking heatstroke when I get back. _

Walking into the kitchen to get some water, Zuko smiled, “Mornin’, Sokka.”

“Shut your mouth, Zuko. It’s literally nine. It is  _ not _ morning.”

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“Man, the fucking heat,” Sokka grumbled, “Are we living in the same apartment? How are you not suffering the way I am?”

Zuko shrugged, and sat on the kitchen counter. A mug half-filled with coffee, dressed in a worn red shirt and black jersey shorts, “I told you, dude. My room’s not so bad. It’s pretty cool.” Looking at Sokka pointedly, he added, “I told you that you could come sleep with me.”

_ Too early for this shit. God, if you’re listening come get me please.  _ “Shut up, your bed’s, like, tiny,” Sokka mumbled. Zuko rolled his eyes and hopped off the counter, going back to his room. Sokka sipped on his water and thought about what the other boy said. He stared at his water, “Well, I could go sleep with him. I mean, that isn’t, like, a thing, y’know. Like, it’s just him being nice and helping me out - I mean, he’s nice and stuff so yeah. Right?” Sokka took a big drag of water. “It’s only weird if I make it weird.”

* * *

Two hours later, they were on the way to the gang’s apartment. They all sort of lived together because, well, complicated relations with family and because it was convenient. Zuko, Sokka and Suki were the only ones in college. The two boys lived in an apartment near campus so that they could just walk, but Suki lived with one of her sisters who was in the city for business.

“God, high school fucking sucked.”

Sokka sighed, “Man,  _ did it suck _ . I mean, friends? Fun. But all the schoolwork? Big no-no.”

“I know. That was fun but I am  _ never _ going back there. No self-respecting person would want to be in high school again.”

“Yeah, Zuko, and you were kind of an asshole. For no reason. You were  _ mean. _ ”

Zuko made a face at Sokka and said, in an extra high-pitched voice, “ _ You were mean. _ ”

Sokka fake gasped, “I  _ do not _ sound like that.” Zuko laughed at that. Sokka didn’t think it was, like,  _ funny _ funny. It was pretty funny, but still. Zuko used to keep to himself a lot, drowning in shadows and his dumb hair. It looked good on him, but it was just ridiculously long. So of course, Sokka convinced him to get a haircut. Anyway, Zuko didn’t laugh a lot when they first became friends. He was quiet. Not shy, just quiet. For a moment, Sokka forgot he’d kind of told a joke, and just looked at the other boy.

Zuko was driving, as usual. Zuko always drove, Sokka picked the music. This time, Sokka had been playing a game on his phone the entire time, so no music. It was just the engine, the AC and Zuko’s laugh filling the silence. Without meaning to, Sokka kept his eyes on him. He had a very pretty laugh. He’d never say it out loud but it was something Sokka could admit to himself - that Zuko was pretty, his laugh was pretty, and sometimes Sokka wanted to just watch him be happy forever. It was stupid, sappy feeling that he’d had for some time.

With a quick glance at Sokka, “What?”

Just as quick, Sokka snapped out of it. “Huh? What?”

“You were looking at me…” Zuko trailed off.

“Huh?”

“You were looking at me, like, I don’t know, and you were smiling.”

_ What? Fuck, fuck, fuck. Mission Abort. Abort. Abort mission. Fucking jump ship.  _ What he said was: “Not you, you jerk. The view on your side is beautiful.” And then he checked to see if the view actually  _ was _ beautiful and not some dumpster fire of a wasteland just like his stupid mouth was.

“Oh,” Zuko said quietly, an emotion Sokka couldn’t read tinging the word. “Oh yeah, it’s so pretty,” he added, sounding like an amazed child that had never seen clouds before.

There was just enough sunlight streaming through the clouds outside and into the car, and the light stuck Zuko’s face in a way, at a certain angle that he looked fucking ethereal. The smile on his face made everything fucking better. Zuko was  _ sparkling _ \--well, not literally, but it looked like he was because the sunlight hit him so well and he was beautiful. He had an ugly burn scar on his face, courtesy of his disgusting father, but it didn’t make Zuko any less beautiful. Sokka thought,  _ It’s fucking impossible to make him any less than beautiful _ .

* * *

When the two boys stumbled back into their apartment, slightly drunk and neither too tired to go to bed yet, Sokka suggested a drinking game. They both knew it was a bad idea. And yet. They’d gone out eating and drinking with the rest of the gang, who took a taxi back to their apartment, including Suki because she was the mom friend and decided to take care of everyone. She had also gotten them a driver to get them back to their apartment in one piece.

“Okay. Green.”

“NOOO. Zuko, you officially suck,” Sokka narrowed his eyes at the other boy.

Zuko placed a green card on the table and yelled, “Uno!”

Sokka’s eyes widened in disbelief. “NO! Dude, you have got to be cheating. You’ve won five times in a fucking row. NO.”

Zuko was already sliding a glass  _ full _ of some alcohol towards Sokka. “Drink up, baby.”

Despite all the drinks running through his veins and despite the fact that he couldn’t see clearly enough to distinguish between the 1’s and 7’s, Sokka’s brain kind of sobered up enough to register the fact that Zuko used a pet name. For him. He threw his head back and downed the drink. He wasn’t quite sure what it was except that it fucking burned his throat. Then he poured some into the glass for Zuko. 

“I won. I don’t have to drink.”

“Just do it.” 

“Fucking fine,” Zuko huffed, and drank it.

_ Fuck. Fuck it. Fuck it. I won’t remember it tomorrow, neither will he. _ Sokka stood up, letting the cards in his hands fall onto the floor and walked over to Zuko who was just watching him from his side of the table. Sokka mumbled to himself, “Stupid liquid courage. Stupid.” He dropped to his knees in front of the other boy, who was still sitting there cross-legged and head cocked to one side like a confused puppy, just watching Sokka.

“Sokka?”

“Zuko.” He cupped Zuko’s face and leaned in, just enough to feel the warm breath on his face. He’d always been warm. Zuko was always warm, even when it was during fucking winter. Maybe it was that stupid good heart of his. “Say no, Zuko. Tell me you don’t want this.”

Just above a whisper, “Yes.” And they were kissing, feverish and desperate, like they’d wanted this for the longest time. Zuko’s name doesn’t leave Sokka’s mouth as the other boy’s mouth moved to his jaw, and his neck. Maybe it was being drunk, but neither of them cared that they were leaving marks on each other. All they cared about was that they were together, even just for a few minutes.

The last thing Sokka remembered before falling asleep was falling onto Zuko’s soft bed, which wasn’t as tiny as he’d claimed. He also remembered Zuko pressing a kiss on his forehead and a  _ goodnight, Sokka, love you _ . Like it was the easiest fucking thing in the world.

* * *

Sokka slowly blinked his eyes open, rubbing them. He groaned, about to get up when he noticed the weight on him. Zuko’s arm.  _ Zuko’s _ arm. What the fuck. Normally, Sokka wouldn’t freak out. No, he would, because it was Zuko but he liked to think he wouldn’t. The thing was, neither of them were wearing anything but their boxers. Despite all the freaking out, he couldn’t help but enjoy it. The fact that they’d fallen asleep together. The fact that Zuko had his arm across his torso. He noticed that he wasn’t sore anywhere.  _ That’s good _ , Sokka thought to himself,  _ That’s good. _ That means they hadn’t had sex. Which was good because he’d really like to remember his first time with Zuko.

Sokka tried to get out of bed without waking Zuko, which was weird, because he was pretty sure it was past 9 am and Zuko usually woke up at the crack of fucking dawn. He gently lifted the arm, which just made the other boy stir and groan. “Sokka. Just five more minutes,” he murmured in his raspy morning voice, and pulled him back into him. Well, Sokka couldn’t say no to that. Sokka spent the next five minutes just looking at Zuko, taking in all his features. Memorizing them, painting them in his mind. God, he was beautiful. He resisted the urge to move the hair out of his face because he knew Zuko was a light sleeper and didn’t want to wake him up.

“What, you enjoying what you see?” Zuko smirked, slowly opening his eyes. His lashes fluttered as he tried to blink himself awake. The comment made Sokka freeze, his eyes stopping on Zuko’s lips.  _ Fuck. _ He closed his eyes and swallowed, hoping he wasn’t blushing.

Sokka realized that despite the fact that he'd slept with someone, he hadn't woken up sweating. Not the way he did in his own room, even though Zuko was warm. Or hot. Same difference.

Zuko rolled onto his back and sat up, holding his head in his hands. “Fucking hangover.” He took his time getting out of bed and stretched, all his muscles flexing, and Sokka was  _ this close _ to saying “fuck it” and kissing him, and just let Zuko completely fucking destory him. Sokka walked around the room looking for his clothes and gave up on it when he couldn’t find them at all.

He walked past the living room, where they’d drunk last night. Something caught his eyes and Sokka backtracked, and gasped out loud when he saw the fucking mess. It wasn’t that the drinks spilled or anything. He just did not expect to find his clothes there, with UNO cards on the floor and a half drunk bottle of vodka on the table, along with a mess of cards. Well, he’d expected everything else except the clothes. He’d assumed they took their clothes off before they crawled into bed so that they wouldn’t sweat themselves to death. Right? That was what happened, right?

Sokka quickly grabbed his clothes and rushed to the bathroom, shaking all the weird thoughts out. The water ran over him, down his hair, his arms. In, out, in, out. Sokka tried to collect himself. _What happened last night?_ Just like the universe heard his question, his head spun and he found himself in his memories of the previous night. 

Zuko and Sokka were on the couch. Weird. Sokka was sure they sat on the floor when they were playing UNO. Except there was nothing  _ UNO _ about what they were doing. Neither of them were wearing shirts. Sokka didn’t have his pants on. He was straddling Zuko who was sitting on the couch, his mouth on Sokka’s body as Sokka gripped at Zuko’s hair, both of them groaning and a mix of other noises.

Zuko broke away just for a second and said, “Hey, it’s getting late. You wanna go to bed?” Sokka mumbled incoherently in response. “Alright. Let’s just go to bed. You’re too drunk to remember tomorrow anyway.”

* * *

Sokka, fully-clothed now, walked onto a still-wearing-nothing-but-boxers Zuko making pancakes in the kitchen. It was like Zuko knew what he was doing to him.

“So,” he started, his back to Sokka still, “what do you remember from last night?” There was something in his voice that Sokka couldn’t quite make out.  _ Make out. _

Sokka cleared his throat. “Uh, well. I remember the drinking challenge with you, and then we got home. I think Suki helped? And then we played UNO when we got back and then I got more drunk because you kept cheating-”

“I didn’t cheat, asshole.”

“Pfft, whatever. So, I had to drink because you kept winning by cheating,” he said, earning an eye-roll from Zuko, “and then, I dunno, we fell asleep.” 

“Hmm yeah, sounds about right,” Zuko shrugged, and looked straight into Sokka’s eyes. “Yeah, I think that’s it.”

* * *

The next few days were weird, to say the least. Zuko didn’t make jokes about how Sokka could just sleep with him and both of them kept clearing their throat when they accidentally made eye contact. Sokka looked at Zuko when he wasn’t looking and Zuko looked at Sokka when  _ he _ wasn’t looking. Even Toph had said, “What’s with you two? There’s some weird vibes thing happening.” Aang had agreed with it. Suki had smirked and Katara had kept quiet, probably because Sokka had already told them what had happened later that day when Zuko went out to buy groceries.

* * *

The silence was suffocating them. Sokka was trying to concentrate on his essay and not Zuko’s soft lips and stupid, knowing smile and surprisingly soft hair when Zuko knocked. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah. What is it?”

“Uh, so. We have to talk.”

“Wait. Zuko, are you kicking me out or something?”

“Just.  _ Listen _ ,” Zuko glared at him. “The other night. When we got drunk. Uh, I wasn’t actually that drunk. I was only a little tipsy because I have higher tolerance than you and then we-”

“Just spit it out, Zuko.” Sokka wanted to know if Zuko hated him. Just hard and fast. He didn’t need a whole stupid introduction and monologue to it.

“We kissed!” Zuko exclaimed. “We kissed, okay? And we did more than that. I had hickeys on my neck and chest for like two days. God, I didn’t know what we were doing then. Like, you were full-on drunk and I was just a little tipsy and I had just wanted to kiss you so bad that I didn’t care if you didn’t remember, I just needed to fucking do it. I just wanted to. And it was so good, I thought I wouldn’t ever fucking stop but I knew you were drunk and I wasn’t going to take advantage of that. I needed to tell you because the last few days had been taking the fucking life out of me. So, if you hate me, tell me.” Zuko said it all in one breath, without stopping at all. Sokka was just staring at him the entire time. He fucking loved it. The rant, the wanting. He wanted Zuko.

“I remember.”

“ _ What? _ And you didn’t say anything?”

“Well,” Sokka started, feeling a little defensive, “I didn’t know you remembered.” 

“Okay, that makes sense.”

“So...about what you said. Wanting to kiss me…”

Zuko turned fucking pink at that. He started stammering, “Uh, I- um-”

“Zuko,” Sokka said softly, gently cupping his face, “I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this yet or whatever, but..I love you. I’m in love with you.” Zuko’s lips curled into a smile, one of the most genuine words Sokka had ever seen, and then pressed his lips to Sokka’s. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this.”

**Author's Note:**

> hehe hope u enjoyed it,, pls leave a kudos if u did <3 thank u for reading  
> at first i was like should i do a third person omniscient pov and then decided on sokka because both of them are equally dumb and smart so,,  
> uh sorry for any grammar mistakes since this wasn't proofread or anything and english isn't my first language


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